History Colorado

Between 1833 and 1849, weary Santa Fe Trail travelers cheered when they saw Bent's Fort - a marketplace like no other. Before Colorado was even a state, Bent's Fort was a hub of activity and a place where goods from around the world could be traded for or purchased.

Bent’s Fort: Colorado’s First Trade Center

Explore the most important settlement in Colorado during the mid 1800s!

Explore the Fort

Draw the 4 main trade routes on the map: Santa Fe Trail, American Indian Trade Networks, El Camino Real, Overseas Routes

Draw the Trade Routes!

They wandered the uncharted Rocky Mountains, they went in harm’s way, and they captured the imagination of Americans, then and now. But the mountain men were neither so free nor so independent as their legend insists. They toiled at the end of a long economic chain that stretched from the icy beaver ponds of the Rockies to the uncertain fashion markets of New York and London. Then in the 1840s, the supply of beaver ran out, and hat fashion changed from fur to silk. Suddenly, the day of the mountain men was done. Kit Carson became a guide, Jim Baker a rancher, and Thomas Fitzpatrick an Indian agent. Others were unable to fit in, forever of the move, always on the fringe of society, misfits to the end.

Famous Mountain Men

During the Great Depression, History Colorado hired unemployed artists through the Works Progress Administration to do many tasks, including create dioramas. These images are from the Winter Camp, Summer Rendezvous, and River Trading dioramas created between 1934 and 1941.

Trapping and Trading: A Diorama

Starting in the 1600s, furs and hides were traded among American Indians, Canadians, Spaniards, and English, French and Russian traders. Follow the history of the fur trade in Colorado from 1600 to 1850!

Fur Trade in Colorado Timeline

Goods from all over the world made their way to Bent's Fort long before highways, railroads, cars, and airplanes. You could find tea from China, glass beads from Italy and France, sugar from Mexico, or Hudson Bay blankets from Canada. How did all of these fabulous goods make their way to an adobe fort on the arid plains, 600 miles from the United States?

1848 Trade Routes

Mountain men camped and trapped alone in the mountains throughout the winter, so they carried everything they needed with them to get them through to the following spring. They did most of their hunting during the winter, because beaver furs were thickest. Here are some of the important supplies that mountain men used in order to survive. Image: Gear spread

Mountain Man Gear

The United States looked very different in the early 1800s. Much of what we now know as the United States of America were territories that belonged to other countries. Here are some maps of what Colorado and the surrounding territories looked like at the time. Can you imagine what it would be like to explore these areas as a trader? What are three things that are different about these maps compared to the maps we see today?

Historic Maps of the Colorado Territory

During the era of the mountain men, people of many different cultures came together to trade furs, goods, and information. How did people live during this period of time? What role did Bent’s Fort play in international trade? How did beliefs and prejudices affect how people were treated and cultural relations? Explore this brief, but important, era in our history!

Location! Location! On the Santa Fe Trail at Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site

Location! Location! On the Santa Fe National Historic trail at Pecos National Historic Park

Educator’s Guide to Bent’s Fort- International Trade during the Fur Trade Era

Bent’s Fort Teacher Resource Guide-Secondary 

Fur Trade-Trappers and Traders Activity Sheet

History Colorado: Bent’s Fort Trade Game

Class Develops Book about Bent’s Fort for a Younger Grade

Bent's Fort and the Fur Trade

Civics and Government

Social Studies

Economics

Geography

U.S. History

Mountain men needed to take care of their gear to survive long winters

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Fur Trapping and Trading Diorama

Mountain men came from all over the world to trap beaver and trade with American Indians. It was not uncommon to find African American, Mexican, Russian, Scottish, German, French, or Canadian mountain men.

Mountain men trapped throughout the winter when beaver fur was the thickest.

Mountain men hunted bison and elk for food and relied on dried meat and pemmican, a mixture of dried meat, fruit, and fat, to get them through lean times.

Trappers set up temporary winter camps in places like South Park and North Park, Colorado. From there, trappers could access beaver and game to eat.

The real-life adventures and tall tales of mountain men captured the imagination of people in eastern cities.

Summer rendezvous were great trade fairs. Merchants arrived with wagon loads of goods and luxury items to get trappers through the winter.

Rivers were the forerunner to highways. They brought people west and allowed them to transport goods.

Trading with American Indians was a central part of the fur trade. American Indians were experienced and efficient hunters who traded furs for manufactured goods.

Bull boats were made out of hide stretched over willow frames. As tough as wooden canoes (which were rare because trees were scarce on the plains) they could easily transport a load of beaver plews on the West's shallow rivers.

This canoe, a rarity on the eastern plains, probably came up the river from St. Louis.

Trappers packed goods with them into the mountains for the winter, and brought beaver plews and other skins out with them in the spring.

Mountain men stretched beaver pelts over willow hoops, called plews. Once dried, they were compressed into 50-pound bundles for easy travel.

Resource Kits

Object Library

Museums

Bent's Fort and the Fur Trade

Trapping and Trading: A Diorama

Gear in the Winter